It's not what...

...it's who!!  That statement has been proven true on our house project yet again.  About six weeks ago, somebody from our church who had heard about our project called to tell me about a friend of hers who has connections to really nice, slightly used appliances at bargain prices.  I called him and waited...and waited...and waited.  I wasn't actually sure this would work out, but I was hoping it would as we need to make up some room in the budget to accomodate the overage in the kitchen cabinet department.  (In kitchen news, I did find the same kitchen for $2k less...still about $2k over what I planned for, but an improvement!) 
Finally, he called this week and said he was driving down to SW Michigan to get them today, but needed the money up front.  In a super trusting mood, I agreed.  Yesterday, I handed over a wad of cash to a guy I didn't know for appliances I've never seen....and..it worked!!  The appliances are awesome.  Phew.

(The dryer in the above picture came with the house...no new laundry appliances today.)

They are way higher-end than we were expecting to buy.  And we were kind of worried that they were hot.  Not hot as in warm, nor hott as in awesome, but hot as in stolen.  How else does one sell a full kitchen set at a fraction of retail?!?!  
Turns out that these appliances were used by a KitchenAid executive for 6 months.  Apparently a benefit of working at KitchenAid is getting new appliances from your mansion every six months.  This guy buys them (barely) used and resells them for a small upcharge.  Bingo for us, our kitchen and our budget!!

Ironically, when I was telling him where the house was so he could deliver the goods, he knew it exactly.  Turns out he had looked at this house and was interested in buying it, too, but didn't get an offer together in time.  So he was super pumped for us and our deal and went on the mini-tour from Pete when he dropped off the appliances.  Small world.